Paced by “Criminal Minds,” which moved ahead of Fox’s “American Idol” head-to-head in key demos for the first time, CBS captured Wednesday’s primetime ratings race — winning each hour.

“Criminal Minds” averaged a 2.5 rating/7 share in adults 18-49 and 10.4 million viewers overall, according to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, rising 14% (0.3) from its most recent original and narrowly winning its hour in young adults over ABC’s comedy block. It beat “American Idol” from 9 to 10 p.m. by a count of 2.6 to 2.2 in adults 18-49 and 3.3 to 2.9 in adults 25-54, and also won in total viewers (10.4 million to 9.2 million).

Also for CBS on Wednesday, “Survivor” (2.2/7 in 18-49, 9.6 million viewers overall) was on par with last week and won its hour, including another head-to-head triumph over “American Idol” (2.3 to 2.0 in 18-49 and 9.6 million to 8.4 million in total viewers). And at 10 p.m., “CSI” (1.9/5 in 18-49, 9.7 million viewers overall) was down a bit from its prior original but won in 18-49, 25-54 and total viewers.

Elsewhere, Fox’s “American Idol” (2.1/6 in 18-49, 8.8 million viewers overall) was down a tick from last week, tying with ABC for second place in 18-49 from 8 to 10. It was up about 25% week-to-week in adults 18-34 (1.5/5).

At ABC, “The Middle” held steady (1.9/7 in 18-49, 7.1 million viewers overall) and “Suburgatory” was up a tenth (1.6/5 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall), with both shows having a good chance to add another tenth in the nationals. This is the second straight week that “The Middle” has pulled into a tie with “Idol” in 18-49, and based on the early numbers, a narrow victory in the nationals (which would be its first) is a possibility.

They were followed by “Modern Family” (3.2/9 in 18-49, 8.8 million viewers overall), which was the night’s top show in young adults but was down 11% (0.4) from last week when it faced repeats on CBS and NBC. “Mixology” held steady at 9:30 p.m. (1.6/4 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall), and “Nashville” (1.5/4 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall) rose 15% (0.2) from last week to pull within a tenth of NBC’s “Chicago PD” (1.6/5 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall), with the NBC rookie looking like it could round up to a 1.7 in the nationals.

Earlier in the evening for NBC, “Revolution” (1.3/4 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall) was up a tick vs. its most recent original of two weeks ago to match its highest rating since Jan. 22, and “Law & Order: SVU” (1.7/5 in 18-49, 5.8 million viewers overall) was up two tenths. And at 10, “Chicago PD” was up at least 14% (0.2).

At CW, both “Arrow” (0.8/3 in 18-49, 2.3 million viewers overall) and “The 100″ (0.6/2 in 18-49, 1.9 million viewers overall) were down a tenth from last week.